Sol Invictus In Umbrae Satanae

vote
6.5

• Bands:
  WARLUST
• Duration: 00:44:13
• Available from: 09/27/2024
• Label:

• Dying Victims Productions

A fresh and graceful proposal from Warlust, who from their stronghold in Germany, with stage names such as Necromancer (vocals and guitar) or Warmachine (drums), come to make us hear how Satanasso's music is played in 2024, pretending that in the meantime there weren't millions of other bands before them. We're joking, but not even that much; the German band, active since 2012 and on its second album, does not add anything surprising to the discussion, and indeed sounds like a classic average band, to be seen in the mid-afternoon on the stage of some European festival, with a death metal vaguely tending to certain European black nuances and some melodic passages. Names like Necrophobic, In Aphelion, but also Aura Noir at some point, are the ones that come to mind.
Even the name seems lazy, in Warlust, yet they manage to make us smile that we don't even know how to explain, perhaps thanks to a wild and genuine ignorance that makes them carry on with their heads down without worrying about the consequences. Whether it's inserting a breakdown that is irresistible in its own way with a hint of heavy metal as in “Serpent Crown”, or firing off a series of riffs one after the other as if we were in '83, as in “…Of Gallows & Absurdity ”, Warlust at least manage to distract us enough to not make us focus, too severely, on the stale and heartfelt black of “Between Apeiron & Plague” or on the acoustic excursus of the title track.
There are also moments that work, but which differ from what we have heard so far, such as when “Legio! Aeterna! Victrix!”, which denote, with clean voices and an all too hieratic allure, a certain insecurity of purpose. The album, however, lives with dignity especially in episodes within songs that are not bad, but all too standard.
In short, the drive and the naked and raw passion that exudes from the notes of “Sol Invictus In Umbrae Satanae” (we ask for the help of the Latinists on the form of this phrase) are certainly the strong points of an otherwise average album, which if on the one hand it practically never surprises, on the other it has a couple of cartridges that make it acceptable with a benevolent smile. Half a point above passing, therefore.